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Sunday, January 24, 2016

Canadian drivers
are complaining they are being “hosed” or taken advantage of at the gas pump as
low oil prices aren’t being reflected in the price.

Even the central
Bank of Canada in its monetary policy report pointed out that oil prices have
dropped about 75 percent from their peak in 2014 but gasoline prices have not
fallen “as much as the reduction in crude oil prices would suggest, based on
historical experience.”

Gas prices averaged
$1.02 a liter ($3.88 Canadian for a U.S. gallon) nationally last month when
crude averaged $37 U.S. a barrel.

In 2009, when oil
sold for $39, the average price for gas was 85 cents a liter.

Gasbuddy analyst
Dan McTeague said gas would cost far less if the Canadian dollar was at par
with the U.S. currency, instead of at 70 cents U.S. now.

“The weakness in
the loonie (dollar) accounts for over 12 cents a liter in lost purchasing power
for motorists,” he said.

Analysts say it’s
also due to higher margins by refiners along with increased taxes.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau apologized on behalf of Canadians to a group of Syrian refugees
who were pepper-sprayed in Vancouver.

Police are
considering it a “hate crime” when about a dozen people were sprayed by a man
on a bicycle at a Syrian welcome ceremony.

The man rode away
quickly after spraying the crowd outside the Muslim Association of Canada
center and is being sought by the police.

One of those hit in
the attack was refugee Youssef Ahmad al-Suleiman who said the reaction of the
prime minister and the public in condemning the incident reinforced his
appreciation of Canadians and his adopted country.

Immigration
Minister John McCallum called it an “isolated” incident but suggested there’s
the need to guard against an anti-refugee sentiment.

As the government’s
focus shifts to integrating the 10,000 Syrians who have arrived so far, there
must be an effort to be sure the newcomers aren’t given special access over
Canadian citizens to such things as social housing, he said.

The Syrians being
resettled in Canada so far have come from Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with
about 25,000 expected to arrive by the end of next month.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Canada’s economy
was battered in 2015, with the dollar losing 16 percent of its value against
the United States currency and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) down 11
percent.

With the arrival of
the new year, Canadians face higher food and restaurant prices with the bite of
a slumping dollar.

There was no joy in
Canada’s resource rich oil patches, primarily Alberta where 63,500 jobs were
lost in the first eight months of the year while the average weekly pay fell
2.6 percent to $1,129 (Canadian).

The drop in oil and
commodity prices hit the dollar hard as it fell to 72 U.S. cents while pushing
the U.S. dollar to near $1.40 Canadian.

BMO economist Doug
Porter said the “carnage” led to the third-worst year since 1992 when the buck
fell by 9 percent.

The TSE’s composite
index ended the year at 13,009 points, compared with 14,632 a year ago and the
worst since 2011.

The dollar’s fall has
led to higher food costs since 81 percent of all vegetables and fruit consumed
in Canada are imported.

University
of Guelph’s Food Institute estimates the average Canadian household
spent an additional $325 on food in 2015 and can expect to pay about $345 more
this year.